Taxi Man
by Norwegian Blue
Summary: Response to the prompt "Arthur/Merlin, Merlin is a cab driver and Arthur is his drunk passenger." Merlin picks up a man who has some very strange ways of making friends in a bar.


In his opinion, between eleven-thirty and midnight was the worst time of night. He'd found that was the time when the idiots who couldn't control themselves and had drank themselves stupid by ten were pulled out by their friends, who were usually weaving themselves. The friends would hail him, stuff money into his hand, usually grinning like they had given him a huge tip, though it was usually a pound more than the fare, if that, and gave him an address that more often than not they forgot half way through. Then, if he was lucky, the passenger would give him enough warning to pull over if they were going to be sick and if he were really lucky, they would remember how to open a door in time.

Sometimes he was in the mood for it, laughing at them and remembering to keep a few plastic bags in the back. More often than not, though, he would try and beg out of it, even do the early morning shift, picking up the odd weekend business people who couldn't be bothered to use the bus and girls with smeared make-up and too fancy clothes for this early in the morning. But he wasn't able to beg out of it, and here he was, the only good thing about it was that he had the whole of tomorrow before he was at it again the next night.

He heard the piercing whistle made by someone using both their fingers and was tempted to ignore it, but there were surprisingly few people on the sidewalk which meant less fares than usual for this shift. A rather tall man with curly hair was supporting a shorter man by his elbow, but was trying to keep his distance at the same time as he was guiding him to Merlin's taxi.

"...'nd you know, Leon, you know, Leon...you're not listening...you should listen to me. I've never steered you wrong, Leon." The taller man, Leon, who seemed pretty sober, rolled his eyes at Merlin as they approached. "I'm listening, Arthur."

"Anyway, Leon, you know that the swords didn't look like fuckin'...fuckin claymores. Fucking claymores. Or those...kastanana swords." Arthur lurched a bit and leaned against the side of the taxi for a moment, then pushed himself up right again. "'s not the word. Yakuza?"

"Katana?" Merlin offered, leaning a bit through his window.

"Yeah..." He looked in the direction of Merlin, but apparently couldn't see him that well in the shadows. "Yeah, Leon, you know the swords weren't like cla--fuck, who cares."

Leon looked between Arthur and Merlin for a moment before starting to pull open the back door. Then he thought better of it. "Christ, I don't even know where he lives. Arthur, forget about the swords for a second."

"I did!" Arthur beamed. "I don't care about the swords any more. No one cares about the swords anymore." Though he was still beaming, he sounded terribly depressed about the lack of attention swords were getting lately.

"Well," Leon looked a bit helpless. "That's good, Arthur," and gave his shoulder an awkward pat. "Do you think you can tell us where you live?"

"I lived in the castle. Remember? You lived there, too."

"Yes, so you've said." Leon turned to Merlin. "I just met him a few hours ago. Took one look at me and decided we were glued at the hip. Then he must of drank half a litre of vodka and now he won't shut up about castles and swords. He's harmless, though. I think." He turned back to Arthur. "I know, you've told me about how you lived in the castle. Er, how about where you slept last night?"

"Oh, I can tell you that" and Arthur rattled of an address of an apartment building.

"Great." Leon led Arthur into the cab and shut the door behind him. "I should see if he has any money of his own," Leon said to Merlin, "but he bought round after round, didn't let me pay all night. I owe him this much."

Merlin threw a look at the figure behind him, who was now slumped with his head against the window. "I don't think it was anything like that," Leon said hastily, interpreting his look correctly. "I think he was just missing some friends. At least that's how it seemed before he got started on the vodka." He gave some notes to Merlin, who was pleased to see that it really was a good tip, and tapped the roof of the car. "Good night, Arthur. See you around!"

"Good bye, Leon! Great to see you this time!"

Leon shrugged and moved away from the cab, and Merlin started off down the road.

For all he seemed to be a talkative drunk, Arthur was silent the first few minutes of the ride and Merlin contented himself with listening for the tell tale sounds of gagging.

"I hope I'll see him again." Arthur said suddenly, sounding very grieved. Merlin frowned and looked at the passenger behind him. Mostly he let the drunks talk to themselves and occasionally threw in a "Sure" or "absolutely," just to keep them occupied but Arthur was making eye contact with him through the mirror. Very unsteady, droopy eye contact, but eye contact all the same.

"I don't see why not. He seemed to like you enough when you weren't going on about swords."

"But I don't know what to talk to him about!" Arthur wailed. "I think that's all we used to talk about. Swords and tournaments and how to attack monsters. He was a good guy, the best knight, but it all sort of blends in together." Merlin looked at him in the mirror again. Arthur didn't look like one of those Dungeons and Dragons types, but you never knew what people got up to in their spare time. Hell, he even heard that Vin Diesel was into that sort of thing. "I don't even know what he does this time."

"Do you think you might have the wrong person?" Merlin suggested. "He seemed to think he'd never seen you before tonight."

Arthur laughed a little and pressed his hand against the seat in front of him. "That's how it always is. I remember and then a while later they all come out of the...the...thingy?"

"Woodwork?"

Arthur rolled his head back against the seat. "Yeah! Woodwork. You're good, taxi man, you know what I'm thinking. So, yeah. They come out of the woodwork. usually the four of us. Never seen Leon before, actually, besides the first time, right. That was awesome, seeing him again. But yeah, they come out of the woodwork and then they remember. And it's a fucking pain getting them to remember, sometimes. You know?"

Merlin went to his old stand bye. "Sure."

"That's why I was hanging off of Leon tonight. You spend some time with a person, sometimes they remember quicker. Though a lot of the time Merlin already comes into it remembering it all. Can you imagine?"

"One of your friends is named Merlin?" Merlin had to laugh. He'd never even heard of another living person named Merlin. "That's my name."

Arthur stiffened and Merlin snuck a look behind him to make sure he hadn't passed out. But Arthur was looking intently at him in a way that gave him the willies. "I've never met another Merlin before. Where's your friend from?"

"I don't know." Arthur said very slowly. "He hasn't...he hasn't come out of the woodwork yet." He slid his head down between his knees and groaned.

Merlin glanced around for a place to pull over. "Hey, Arthur, mate? You all right? You gonna be sick?"

"No," Arthur's voice was muffled by his position. "I'm fi--I'm not going to be sick." Arthur was silent again for a few moments as Merlin turned down the street that Arthur had said he lived on.

"Merlin, tell me. Did you recognize Leon at all?"

Merlin puzzled over this. Was Leon famous? Or did he frequent the bars enough to require frequent cab service? "No, I don't think so. Should I?"

Arthur ignored his question. "Tell me, Merlin, do you recognize me, at all?"

Merlin pulled in front of the address and turned around and studied Arthur, who was looking at him with such a hopeful look in his eyes that Merlin almost wished he could truthfully say yes. "No, mate. Sorry. Maybe I've picked you up before?"

Arthur shook his head. "Well, at least this way you'd know where I live." Merlin was going to ask him what he meant, but Arthur pushed open his door and stepped shakily out. Merlin hesitated, then figured that the tip Leon had given him was enough to make sure Arthur was going to make it to the door without killing himself. He got out and reached Arthur before he had taken a few steps and grabbed Arthur's upper arm.

Arthur swung his head to look at him, and his startlingly blue eyes were boring into Merlin's. "It is you." He sighed and looked straight ahead. "You're thinking that I'm some drunk fucker, and you're probably right. But Merlin, please, remember where I live.I know this doesn't make any sense but just remember, please. You'll want to find me again. And I know how you are. Write it down or something."

"All right, I will." Merlin said, telling himself it was just to humor Arthur, but repeating the address in his mind all the same. They reached the front door and Merlin let go of Arthur's arm and patted his should and immediately adjusted his jacket, and it seemed to him he was doing it out of habit except he could never remember walking a fare to the door unless it was a young woman in a bad neighborhood, and he certainly never remembered comforting them.

As he smoothed out the shoulders of Arthur's jacket, something in his mind... _shifted_ and his hand froze above Arthur's shoulder. He stared at Arthur, feeling as though there was something that he couldn't remember and it was out of reach. Arthur looked at him, his head cocked to the side a bit. Then he smiled drunkenly. "You know, Merlin. I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm really not, and I never really need to say sorry to you." And with that, Arthur leaned into him, his mouth against Merlin's.

Merlin nearly pulled away, his mind immediately rebelling. You did not do this with customers, you let customers do this, the next morning there's a complaint and he's put on unpaid suspension. But the thing that shifted in his mind urged him to return the kiss, even while his eyes were watering from the stink of the vodka on Arthur's breath. And apparently something in him needed this. Something in his chest squeezed and then grew and if pressed he would have described the feeling as butterflies in his stomach but it really wasn't. It was just pure joy. He couldn't remember feeling this happy in what must have been a very long time. Seeming to sense this, Arthur leaned in a little more and coaxed his mouth open and Merlin could feel arms around his back and a part of him wondered at Arthur's ability to do all this while stinking drunk. But mostly he enjoyed it.

All too soon, the need for air came and Arthur broke it off, drawing it out by catching Merlin's bottom lip gently between his teeth. Feeling a bit dazed, it was all he could do to stand there as Arthur slapped his shoulder, continued to drunkenly smile and said "Good bye, Merlin. I think I'll be seeing you soon." Somehow Arthur fished out his key and was able to get his key in the lock with only a moderate amount of trouble. Turning once more to smile broadly at Merlin, he closed the door behind him.

The sound of the door closing finally shook Merlin out of his daze. He turned to go down the steps, and that's when the memories began to assault him and it was all he could do to sit down and keep himself from pitching down the stairs. They came in waves. The faces from that first lifetime and all the lifetimes in between. Gaius and Hunith and Gwen and Morgana and the dragon, and he even had glimpses of Leon. But most importantly, there was Arthur and Merlin wondered weakly under the assault of images how he could ever have not recognized him.

When the waves finally stopped, it was just past dawn and he hadn't moved from his perch on Arthur's steps. He could see the door of his cab open and he dully wondered if the battery had died. He heard the door open behind him and Arthur stood there, in sweat pants and a t-shirt that looked like it had been put on backwards and drinking something fizzy out of a glass.

"Ah. So I'm such a good kisser you couldn't even manage to make it home." Arthur gave him a tight smile and sipped from the glass. Despite the tone, he looked back at Merlin questioningly.

Merlin rotated his neck. "Prat. You couldn't even let me inside after that? You knew something like that would happen."

Arthur grinned widely but then winced and took another swig from the glass. "Not that soon. Usually takes a day or two after..."

"After what? You molesting me? And I'll have you know that you can never tease me again about not being able to hold my alcohol."

Arthur grinned and reached down to give Merlin a hand up. Merlin resisted the urge to pull him down onto the step next to him. "Cheers. And you wouldn't have something for my back, would you? It's got a terrible pain in it after some idiot made me sit out on his stoop all night."

**Author's Note**: So, this was my first time writing slash, vanilla as it is, so hopefully I didn't screw it up too badly. I also have only a basic idea of how cab companies work, so hopefully I didn't mess that up too much.


End file.
